After the resurrection, I was wondering what the disciples must have been feeling before Christ appeared to each of them. Of course, they had been discouraged, feeling rather hopeless when Christ was crucified. It seemed the end of a dream. There was no way they could fully comprehend what Jesus had taught them and told them to expect. But, then He appeared to several of them and the sparks of hope were fanned into flames. Now, Lord, will you establish your kingdom? Give us our orders, Lord. What's next? Jesus' response didn't do much to support their enthusiasm. Wait. What? Wait.
Jeanette Bakke, in her book, "Holy Invitations," cites several factors that can influence discernment. One that I find particularly troubling is having the "willingness to accept an answer of wait." She writes: "It is difficult to wait for God and difficult to wait with integrity for our own process of development. We may be tempted to settle for what is at hand or force an alternative rather than wait when life as we have known it begins to unravel or we are in transition."
When we fail to wait for the Lord, when we get too far ahead of Him, we are doomed to failure. Bakke warns us of thinking that we have enough of an idea of what God is trying to accomplish and taking over as opposed to continuing to follow the Holy Spirit's lead. She states, "unless we ask God to help us set priorities, order our lives, and guide us moment by moment, how can we hope for our actions to grow from God's intentions rather than from seemingly good ideas of our own?"
We need to remember that He who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it. There may be times when it seems God is taking a break, when He seems to have relaxed and we are in danger of missing a deadline, when it appears that our plans are about to fail, when what we had hoped for isn't going to happen, but God is never too late, He is always on time.
"Wait for the gift my Father promised," Jesus told them. What was that gift, none other than the power of the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit which enabled Christ to perform miracles, that raised Christ from the dead, that empowered the disciples to build the church, that works in you and me today. We must wait until that Spirit leads us, trust that God has a plan, one that we need to follow.
Godspeed, Phil
Jeanette Bakke, in her book, "Holy Invitations," cites several factors that can influence discernment. One that I find particularly troubling is having the "willingness to accept an answer of wait." She writes: "It is difficult to wait for God and difficult to wait with integrity for our own process of development. We may be tempted to settle for what is at hand or force an alternative rather than wait when life as we have known it begins to unravel or we are in transition."
When we fail to wait for the Lord, when we get too far ahead of Him, we are doomed to failure. Bakke warns us of thinking that we have enough of an idea of what God is trying to accomplish and taking over as opposed to continuing to follow the Holy Spirit's lead. She states, "unless we ask God to help us set priorities, order our lives, and guide us moment by moment, how can we hope for our actions to grow from God's intentions rather than from seemingly good ideas of our own?"
We need to remember that He who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it. There may be times when it seems God is taking a break, when He seems to have relaxed and we are in danger of missing a deadline, when it appears that our plans are about to fail, when what we had hoped for isn't going to happen, but God is never too late, He is always on time.
"Wait for the gift my Father promised," Jesus told them. What was that gift, none other than the power of the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit which enabled Christ to perform miracles, that raised Christ from the dead, that empowered the disciples to build the church, that works in you and me today. We must wait until that Spirit leads us, trust that God has a plan, one that we need to follow.
Godspeed, Phil
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